Laxmi Meghana Gorugantu, Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay, Mumbai - India's Most Promising Incoming MBA Students 2022

I am Meghana from Hyderabad. I am an Electrical Engineering graduate from Vasavi College of Engineering. Post that I have worked for Accenture as an Application Development Associate for 11 months. During my tenure I worked with more than 30 business users in a span of two months and also received appreciation for coming up with creative ideas for team interaction activities. My hobbies include singing, playing badminton, Table tennis. I also use Instagram as a platform to spread awareness about Mental Health issues. I love doing pet care as well.

Tell us more about your extracurricular achievements 

1. I have worked as the Social Media Marketing Team Lead in Comic Con, Hyderabad wherein I coordinated with a group of 20 people from diverse backgrounds to build creative content for Comic Con's Digital media handles. We leveraged the tools suc as boomerangs, time-lapse along audience feedback, celeb talks and so on to make the event a success. Our reach that year was 25000+ whcih saw an increase of 30% compared to the previous year.

2. During the pandemic, I worked as the Head of Procurement and Distribution for Dasoju Foundation which supplies health kits to needy people. I successfully squared deals with 3 vendors in a span of one month by minimizing the overall costs.

3. I worked as a content writer at Across the Globe platform wherein I posted around 30+ articles in a span of six months.

Tell us about a time when you messed up, and what you learnt from the experience?

During the initial days at my work experience I faced some difficulties with error handling process of Field collector system application. I would follow long procedures which wouldnt be feasible at times. I then coordinated and learnt from my mates. If I had to do anything differently, I would try analyzing and understanding by doing my background checks and making notes.

Tell us something about yourself that others may be surprised to know about you. 

I usually put forth my complete self and I try to be as honest as I can with the people around me. I am an extrovert and try to make a situation lively by involving everyone around. I write poems sometimes which many people do not know. I contect of my poems would most likely revoleve around environment, mental health issues and any particular experience which I feel is worth witing about.

What have been your two biggest successes in life? What did you learn from them?

The two biggest successes in my life have been:1. Understanding the the power of time and valuing my time as well as others time regularly. I used to work on applications in the power sector which made me realize that even a small delay in our actions could cause a power outage to a user at the other end of it. Every delay has its own share of consequences and hence time must me valued.

Professionally, what is your ideal image of yourself five years from now? Where do you see yourself? 

Five years from now I see myself working for an organization in a managerial role. I have always loved taking up people centric roles, interacting with them, relating the dots and putting forth my best self to meet the organization goals. Through an MBA I would be able to enhance my knowldege base, skillset, build my netwokring skills and work as groups for various tasks which I believe form the building stones for my managerial role. I also see myslef impacting the lives of people around me, inspire as well as take inspiration from them. I see myself learning from ecah and every activity I take up as this aspect is never ending no matter how far I reach.

What is the one skill or characteristic you possess that you are most proud of, and why? 

I am an empathetic person and I believe that is my best quality. I have always been the go-to person for my family or friends whenever they face any issues emotionally or otherwise. I put myself in their shoes without judging them and try to give them a realistic picture from my understanding. I also make them feel at ease by ensuring them my support. During school days, I was one of the most approachable people in my class in spite of changing around seven schools. Be it about sharing their concerns on various issues I would listen to them patiently and help them out in whatever way I could. I recall an incident during my college days when one of my friends lost her brother. I then took it as a responsibility to help her heal. Even during my job at the IT industry, I would interact with people, get to know them and be there for them even though we had a work from home kind of environment.

In your opinion, what skills or qualities does a successful manager possess?

According to me, a successful manager is someone who builds a team of trust and empathy so that the goals can be achieved. He/She not just leads the team or make sure the deadlines are met but also lets the team bring out their best selves and reach new milestones for the orgnization. A manager is someone who is transparent and treats every perosn in the team equally irespective of their circumstances or roles. He is accountable not just to the higher authorities of the organization but also to his team mates as they are equally responisible for any success or failure. A manager possesses good decision making skills or a decisive nature as there might occur situations for which instant actions are needed. He/She is the one who leads from teh front and therefore has to be agile and proactive.

Tell us about an ethical dilemma that you may have faced, and how you resolved it. 

I have always been a keen observer. During my college days, as a part of electrical experiment lab sessions we were supposed to write the same experiments two times in lab books and observation books which was redundant. All the students including me thought it wouldnt be productive and instead we could make a better use of time. I took up the responsibility to take it up to our lecturers and let them know our opinions and concerns. They generously accepted our request and eventually the issue of writing two- three times was reduced to once.

If you were the CEO of any company of your choosing, which company would you choose and what would your first action be as CEO?

I would choose to work for a startup in Agritech. My reason for choosing this would be the fact that even through agriculture employees around 50% of the country directly or indirectly, it only contributes to 20% of the GDP. I see a huge potential in the technology leveraging companies which serve to remove the current bottlenecks present in the agri field.My first action would be taking a note of what all the technologies we can work on based on the needs of farmers and other stakeholders and condct a meet with various departments to bring out an action plan, set goals and deadlines, brainstorm and efficiently cater to the goals of the organization through collaboration, commitment and communication.

Any Other Comments Or Factors You Would Like To Highlight About Yourself? (TEXTAREA)

I aspire to become a Social Entrepreneur down the line. I believe the whole purpose of taking big responsibilites, improving our skill set and knowledge, gaining expereinces in which ever field we chose to be should ultimately cater to the needs of a common man and the poorest of poor. There are a lot of humanitarian issues we face including lack of basic amenities such as food, shelter, clothing which many in our country cannot afford to have. I hope to bring out a change through my work and inspire my fellow beings.